Eight Forty-Eight

The man behind the the anonymous fake Twitter feed, @MayorEmanuel, is revealed.

Mar. 01, 2011

Two Emanuels ended up garnering public attention during Chicago’s election season—the Mayor-elect and the anonymous fake Twitter feed, @MayorEmanuel. The man behind the tweets has now stepped forward. Columbia College journalism professor Dan Sinker joins Eight Forty-Eight to talk about the creation of @MayorEmanuel and the struggle to keep his identity a secret. And the show pays tribute to singer-songwriter Diane Izzo who died of cancer last Friday.

Some real gems sprang from the mind of Dan Sinker as he took on the persona of @Mayor Emanuel. Debate prep: "If we end up in a dance-off, those other bleepers are bleeping done. Black Swan, bitches!" Speech preview: "So Chicago, let's stop screwing around.

Mayor-elect Emanuel’s real counterpart in county government is dealing with an estimated budget shortfall of $487 million. In her transition report last December, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle floated some ideas on how to close that budget shortfall.

The governors of Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin have turned down federal funding for high-speed rail service. But in Illinois, the sentiment is “All aboard.” The proposal for improvements along the Chicago-St. Louis corridor aims to connect arterial regions.

Writer Audrey Niffenegger rose to fame in 2003 with her first novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife. The book was a surprise hit for the Chicago author and visual artist. There's also a Hollywood adaptation, which garnered a lot of buzz.

On Feb. 25, cancer claimed the life of Chicago native Diane Izzo. She was 43. In 1999, musician Diane Izzo won big praise with her debut album, One. It was a trifecta of elegant and emotive music, lyrics and voice. That album was 10 years in the making.